Honda S800 raced in Australia 1967 to 1972

I am very interested in learning all I can about the Honda S800 "Sport Kit" cars that were raced in Australia from about 1967.

I believe two of these specially modified s800's were sent to NSW, and possibly one each to Victoria and SA. These car cost about 2 1/2 times as much as standard; they had magnesium wheels, 5 speed cr boxes, special cranks, heads, cams, suspension etc.

Any info or recollections appreciated.

I have on of these cars, the NSW "Ken Brian" car, and would like to collect any info or photos of it or its sisters.

Originally posted by stephen I am very interested in learning all I can about the Honda S800 "Sport Kit" cars that were raced in Australia from about 1967.

I believe two of these specially modified s800's were sent to NSW, and possibly one each to Victoria and SA. These car cost about 2 1/2 times as much as standard; they had magnesium wheels, 5 speed cr boxes, special cranks, heads, cams, suspension etc.

Any info or recollections appreciated.

I have on of these cars, the NSW "Ken Brian" car, and would like to collect any info or photos of it or its sisters.

ThanksStephenHobart

Google up the Honda Car Club (Melbourne chapter)....I'm sure I remember reading about racing activities there....

Mmmm. I'm actually a member of the Honda Car Club of NSW, aclub that actually goes back as far as 1970, and started by S owners. I really don't know much about the clubs history, but would be curious to know more. The club is suffereing from hard times - never really caught the imaginations of enthusiasts of late (despite some interesting product in recent years.) I believe there is at least one committee meber with an S600 in a shed somewhere.

Didn't Brian and Riley drive a Honda 1300S "9" Coupe at Bathurst 1971? I'd love to know the story behind that, and a bit more on the 7s and 9s that were brought to Australia - would you believe a couple of Alfa club members (I belong to AROCA as well) resurrected a bright yellow one. Now wouldn't that make a good Group N race car.

I recall reading a report on a racing S600 in a Sports Car World Special from the 60's. I wonder what happened to that?

I haven't been able to locate the magazine, but I'm pretty sure it was a SCW Sports Cars & Specials compilation. The cover had a blonde "bird" standing on the seat of the S600 IIRC.

So it was a Honda 7 Coupe and not a 9? Not that I can recall what the differences were though I thought the 9 was a quicker car. Did they sell enough of these things for it to be eligible for Bathurst 71? I would think not. Ray, was the 7 Coupe the road test car? Did it race anywhere besides Bathurst? Whatever happened to it?

I checked the Great Race book and note that Brian and Riley also raced a Honda Civic at Bathurst in 73, 74 and 76 - their only race starts apart from 71 and all in Hondas. What were these guys background (Honda dealer employees?) and are they still around?

The production requirements at Bathurst at the time were only low initially, 125 sold in Australia or something did the job in the early days. But it did increase, and then it went to a worldwide 1000 or something. There were very strange rules applied where people thought a simple transposing of the accepted FIA series production requirements would do.

In response to Ray; both NSW cars were roadsters, Noel removed the windscreen from his while Ken retained windscreen and hardtop. At some stage Noel's car, or at least the bits of it that later became Graham Bland's and eventually Gary Cook's had a Ford LSD installed whereas Ken's car simply, (and quite crudely) had the diff centre welded/melted to lock axles.

They both had Honda 5-speed boxes; these could be fitted with 5 differing final drive ratios, but I do not know if they came to Australia with the gears to allow choice of ratio.

Paul; all I know about Noel and Ken in a coupe 7 or 9 is that on the Bathurst racetrack website. There was an article on a race 600 in about 67 with the front cover photo of an attractive young lady atop a red 600. This car was a standard car modified in Sydney and included a 5-speed box imported from Honda. I have been led to believe it went to NZ, was there smashed, and the gearbox imported back to Australia. I am not certain but I think the remains of that box is now with Carl DeFina in Melb.

Racing Car News ran a story comparing Noel’s 800 with a midget in 1968, I have month at home if anyone interested. Ken’s car was advertised for sale in RCN Oct 68. I can e-mail a scan of both the article and the add to anyone interested.

I don’t now much about the Coupe 7 and 9’s but the fellow who sold me my first 800 took for a ride around the block in his 9, is was very gutsy, had 4 carbies, and wider wheels than 7, and a body trim difference.

I did eventually find Ken Brian about 5 years ago; he runs a car yard in Nowra; I phoned him, he recalled the cars as being beautifully prepared, but did not keep and photos etc.

Originally posted by stephen Firstly, thanks all for the contributions.

In response to Ray; both NSW cars were roadsters, Noel removed the windscreen from his while Ken retained windscreen and hardtop. At some stage Noel's car, or at least the bits of it that later became Graham Bland's and eventually Gary Cook's had a Ford LSD installed whereas Ken's car simply, (and quite crudely) had the diff centre welded/melted to lock axles.

They both had Honda 5-speed boxes; these could be fitted with 5 differing final drive ratios, but I do not know if they came to Australia with the gears to allow choice of ratio.

Paul; all I know about Noel and Ken in a coupe 7 or 9 is that on the Bathurst racetrack website. There was an article on a race 600 in about 67 with the front cover photo of an attractive young lady atop a red 600. This car was a standard car modified in Sydney and included a 5-speed box imported from Honda. I have been led to believe it went to NZ, was there smashed, and the gearbox imported back to Australia. I am not certain but I think the remains of that box is now with Carl DeFina in Melb.

Racing Car News ran a story comparing Noel’s 800 with a midget in 1968, I have month at home if anyone interested. Ken’s car was advertised for sale in RCN Oct 68. I can e-mail a scan of both the article and the add to anyone interested.

I don’t now much about the Coupe 7 and 9’s but the fellow who sold me my first 800 took for a ride around the block in his 9, is was very gutsy, had 4 carbies, and wider wheels than 7, and a body trim difference.

I did eventually find Ken Brian about 5 years ago; he runs a car yard in Nowra; I phoned him, he recalled the cars as being beautifully prepared, but did not keep and photos etc.

In QLD, Keith Shaw ran a Coupe 9 (four carbs!) at Lakeside and Surfers.
He also drove a Z and various Scamps, too.
IIRC, later ran the first model Civic.
He may have worked for the Qld Honda distributor, Bennet's(?).

Originally posted by 275 GTB-4 Stephen...I think you may be refering to Ken Elders car....he took a 600 and put one of his 8 port heads on, more than doubled the capacity (1500ish), added a 5 speed dog box and a solid rear axle.....

What do you mean?

Funny, stephen, I could have sworn that Ken Brian's car was the fastback top type.

Both Ken and Noel originally ran S600s (at that stage Ken worked for Bennett Honda) and then when the S800s arrived they changed to S800s. The cars were prepared by Noel who was an electrician I think with the RAAF. Noel was always a bit quicker as he was a bit smoother than Ken but both cars were quiet successful and always beautifully presented. My memory fails me as to the Hardtop/ soft-top configuration but I think they chopped and changed depending on the race at hand. They also entered a pretty laughable Z sedan as well which was as slow as a wet week. As someone else has mentioned, Ken is in Nowra these days but I've lost touch with Noel

"Both Ken and Noel originally ran S600s (at that stage Ken worked for Bennett Honda) "

I worked for Bennett Honda for nearly all of 1965 as a trainee car salesman (gopher). I don't believe either of these guys worked there then. I thought that Noel worked for one of the dealers, maybe Campbell Scott or R. C. Phillips? The Autopics site (www.autopics.com.au) has plenty of photos of S600 and S800 (including one of me in my, then, girlfriends S600 - girlfriend was the receptionist at Bennett Honda). One of the photos shows Ken and Noel and Ken's car has a hardtop but it was a hardtop (detachable probably one of the locally made (I think) fibreglass ones which were an option. Anyway not the 'coupe' version which was a fastback.

Originally posted by 2Bob "Both Ken and Noel originally ran S600s (at that stage Ken worked for Bennett Honda) "

I worked for Bennett Honda for nearly all of 1965 as a trainee car salesman (gopher). I don't believe either of these guys worked there then. I thought that Noel worked for one of the dealers, maybe Campbell Scott or R. C. Phillips? The Autopics site (www.autopics.com.au) has plenty of photos of S600 and S800 (including one of me in my, then, girlfriends S600 - girlfriend was the receptionist at Bennett Honda). One of the photos shows Ken and Noel and Ken's car has a hardtop but it was a hardtop (detachable probably one of the locally made (I think) fibreglass ones which were an option. Anyway not the 'coupe' version which was a fastback.

Sorry, but you're mistaken. Ken and I have been mates for over 40 years and I worked 4 doors up the street from Bennett Honda where Ken and Swinfield both worked for many years

When this thread commenced it immedately struck a cord. I recalled two of these racing here in SA in the late sixties. They were either dealer entered cars or heavily sponsored.

I think but I am not 100%certain, there was a coupe and a roadster. I vaguely remeber one being silver and the other perhaps red. I do recall looking under the bonnett of one of these and seeing four carbs.

On checking some old RCN's I have found that the report of the Easter 1968 meeting at Mallala refers to two of these cars. Both S800's apparently .

It also mentions Dalton Honda being the dealer involved. The drivers of these two cars were Garrie Chapman and Les Simpson according to the report.

Can't say I have heard of Dalton Honda in SA for years. In fact all but forgotten until I read this report .

A business name search today reveals the name was deregistered 1973! Now i know why I had forgotten about them.

We had a couple of S800's race down in Tassy during the mid 60's (pretty sure they were 800's). One was a blue coupe driven in practice for Longford in 1965 by twice Tassy Touring Car champion, Brian Higgins. The motor blew up however and it did'nt race. The other was a white roadster driven by Peter Truscott in 1967. Both cars are on the oldracephotos.com website - type Honda into the Advanced Search will bring them up. We also had a guy in Tas-Kam Pacemakers who ran his new Honda 9 at a few Baskerville club days.
A couple of new Honda 9's at Lloyd Campbell's Honda showroom will also come up on that search as well.
Regards, ellrosso

I knew a guy in the 90s from Superkarting that raced a Honda Sports car in Prod Sports in NSW in the late 80s i think... His name is Mick Jarvis, he used to tell me he had some duels with Mike Conway....... Not sure if it was a S800?

Originally posted by BondyI knew a guy in the 90s from Superkarting that raced a Honda Sports car in Prod Sports in NSW in the late 80s i think... His name is Mick Jarvis, he used to tell me he had some duels with Mike Conway....... Not sure if it was a S800?

Mike Conway was in a Clubman in the mid-eighties, no S800 should have run within cooee of that...

Was it perhaps the S600/S800 that raced in that period with a Cortina engine fitted?

HI!,you can add Graham Bland,NSW . Gary Chapman,Sth Aust. And correct me if i am wrong,Sandra Bennett [Bennett Honda] NSW. Although i suspect Noel Riley could have used her factory race parts in his car. I used to have a roadster, wish i still had it !!!!.regards,gray chandsler.

Catalina Park, the Clubman you mentioned was called the RH Honda from memory and there was an article on it in SCW in maybe 1972 or thereabouts - RH - Ron Hay?
Hope the memory is correct!
Regards, ellrosso

I noticed The vulcha was mentioned in these forums, so thought it was my duty to stick my 20cents worth in......Yes its true the vulcha was built from a wrecked s800 that had a rotary fitted......I still have the car, although it hasn't been raced since 02, but It is still in complete going condition.

The history is as I know it is, In it's rotary engined format,it was first registered with cams to Kim Ferrier in 1975.......then registered to Fred Schneider in 1977.....from there it was registered to Mark Ferrier in 1979.....Then registered to.Geoff Boyd from Canberra in 1987 in it's modified by Geoff 2A open sports class.But I'm not sure of the history before Kim Ferrier in 1975, and weather the car was raced prior to this with the Honda Power plant ?

As far as I know Geoff rolled the car as a S800, and remarked that it was just to MAD and twitchy for the power plant...so he decided that a lengthen and widening would be the order of the day......The car retained most of the chassis, plus much reinforcing, The genuine Honda s800 competition brake twin master cylinder, with adjustable balance bar, The steering rack, And some miscellaneous components,and gained some rx7 brakes, limited slip diff, close ratio gearbox etc, and some different suspension geometry.

The Car and with Geoff "The Mad Milkman"..Sorry Geoff !! behind the wheel Gained a reputation as being a lot faster than it looked and should have been, on the Sydney circuits, and I think it was 1992 that he won the Tri star sports car series, much to the other competitors horror so I hear.

Anyway I purchased the car off Geoff in 1993, To do local club sport in my Hometown of Tamworth, but then decided to take on the NSW Hillclimb championships, And some Of the Australian Championships..So i fitted a big wing to the back to try and fix some of the power on over-steer,Power off and Everywhere over-steer .lol and a 5.1 diff ratio, and some other tinkering.....I came 1st outright at the 1994 Tamworth round of the NSW Hillclimb championships and 3rd Outright for that year as a series as well as 1st in class......Plus Class wins at 4 Australian Titles,and one second.... 5 class wins at Queensland Championships, And I still hold most of the class Records at NSW Hillclimbs, except for Dapto.And Geoff has Canberra in the vulcha......The car was usually only bettered for outright placings by single seater Formula Libra cars.....and quite often in front of some !

As far as I know the vulcha is the only Sports car raced in Australia,that effectively changed classes in it's race history. And i certainly Have some fond memories of racing the car, And I,m sure Geoff does to !......A bit of an ugly car but it worked quite well.

I noticed The vulcha was mentioned in these forums, so thought it was my duty to stick my 20cents worth in......Yes its true the vulcha was built from a wrecked s800 that had a rotary fitted......I still have the car, although it hasn't been raced since 02, but It is still in complete going condition.

The history is as I know it is, In it's rotary engined format,it was first registered with cams to Kim Ferrier in 1975.......then registered to Fred Schneider in 1977.....from there it was registered to Mark Ferrier in 1979.....Then registered to.Geoff Boyd from Canberra in 1987 in it's modified by Geoff 2A open sports class.But I'm not sure of the history before Kim Ferrier in 1975, and weather the car was raced prior to this with the Honda Power plant ?

As far as I know Geoff rolled the car as a S800, and remarked that it was just to MAD and twitchy for the power plant...so he decided that a lengthen and widening would be the order of the day......The car retained most of the chassis, plus much reinforcing, The genuine Honda s800 competition brake twin master cylinder, with adjustable balance bar, The steering rack, And some miscellaneous components,and gained some rx7 brakes, limited slip diff, close ratio gearbox etc, and some different suspension geometry.

The Car and with Geoff "The Mad Milkman"..Sorry Geoff !! behind the wheel Gained a reputation as being a lot faster than it looked and should have been, on the Sydney circuits, and I think it was 1992 that he won the Tri star sports car series, much to the other competitors horror so I hear.

Anyway I purchased the car off Geoff in 1993, To do local club sport in my Hometown of Tamworth, but then decided to take on the NSW Hillclimb championships, And some Of the Australian Championships..So i fitted a big wing to the back to try and fix some of the power on over-steer,Power off and Everywhere over-steer .lol and a 5.1 diff ratio, and some other tinkering.....I came 1st outright at the 1994 Tamworth round of the NSW Hillclimb championships and 3rd Outright for that year as a series as well as 1st in class......Plus Class wins at 4 Australian Titles,and one second.... 5 class wins at Queensland Championships, And I still hold most of the class Records at NSW Hillclimbs, except for Dapto.And Geoff has Canberra in the vulcha......The car was usually only bettered for outright placings by single seater Formula Libra cars.....and quite often in front of some !

As far as I know the vulcha is the only Sports car raced in Australia,that effectively changed classes in it's race history. And i certainly Have some fond memories of racing the car, And I,m sure Geoff does to !......A bit of an ugly car but it worked quite well.

Talking about modified Hondas. there was a magazine article in the 70s about one with a pushrod Ford engine as a road car.
And some stalwarts from the Honda Club in SA have been running some wild ones for years at Sprints of all types powered by 2 litre Ford, pushrod Ford, 202 Holden and the grandaddy that was Chev powered for a while.

Have a look on the autopics site run by David Blanch.Quite a few Honda S600 and S800 shots.Noel Riley's red S600 with black stripes is pictured at Catalina 1965,Warwick Farm,Sandown,Oran Park and Lakeside 1966.Some nice colour shots amongst the black and white.A road registered S600 driven by B.Collison on what looks like Amoroo Hillclimb in 1966.One R.Steigler at Oran Park in 1972 in a full-opposite-lock oversteer slide at BP.
Graham Bland had an S800 at Warwick Farm in 1969,Amaroo in 1971 and I recall listening to the PA at Bathurst around 1970/71 Graham Bland being interviewed about the car and asked what it revved to.He replied 11000 rpm.The announcer asked what happened if you revved it harder,the droll reply was "it goes faster..."

I'm not certain, but I think the Ferrier car had a Ford in it too, before the Rotary...

Geoff Boyd had a number of rally cars, if I recall, one being the 203 with Daimler V8 built by Paul Quinn in Penrith. The same builder later did a 504 with P76 V8 (ex-Evan Green Range-Rover) that Geoff bought from him.

I'm not certain, but I think the Ferrier car had a Ford in it too, before the Rotary...

Geoff Boyd had a number of rally cars, if I recall, one being the 203 with Daimler V8 built by Paul Quinn in Penrith. The same builder later did a 504 with P76 V8 (ex-Evan Green Range-Rover) that Geoff bought from him.

Hi Ray..Thanks for the reply..... And I'm certainly interested in any information about the car.Yes your probably right A few people have commented about it originally having a cortina engine, so I can only assume it had the ford engine pre 1975 ?

Also I Think Geoff did quite well in the Rally scene, I sure he mentioned to me that he won a leg of the Canberra Rally in the 504.

Another bit of trivia about Geoff,When i went to pick the Vulcha up in 93....He had a mildly worked 460 in his F100 Delivery Truck.....For the Milk run .....lol

A road registered S600 driven by B.Collison on what looks like Amoroo Hillclimb in 1966.

That is me. It was at Amaroo on the short circuit (dirt). Car was owned by my, then, girlfriend, Sue Besemeres, who also ran it that day and we were within 1 second of each other in lap times I think. Sue also ran it in car trials (I navigated) and also at a 1/4 mile sprint at Castlereigh airstrip where I believe she got some sort of Australian record for the class (up to 750cc I guess). Sue was the receptionist at Bennett Honda (NSW distributors) and I was a trainee car salesman (gopher) there.

That is me. It was at Amaroo on the short circuit (dirt). Car was owned by my, then, girlfriend, Sue Besemeres, who also ran it that day and we were within 1 second of each other in lap times I think. Sue also ran it in car trials (I navigated) and also at a 1/4 mile sprint at Castlereigh airstrip where I believe she got some sort of Australian record for the class (up to 750cc I guess). Sue was the receptionist at Bennett Honda (NSW distributors) and I was a trainee car salesman (gopher) there.

Bob - I apologise - I shot you down a bit abruptly back in post #16. I was wrong - Ken Brian and John Swinfield worked for Campbell Scott in William St, not Bennet Honda. My apologies (After all - it was 40 years ago...)

That is me. It was at Amaroo on the short circuit (dirt). Car was owned by my, then, girlfriend, Sue Besemeres, who also ran it that day and we were within 1 second of each other in lap times I think. Sue also ran it in car trials (I navigated) and also at a 1/4 mile sprint at Castlereigh airstrip where I believe she got some sort of Australian record for the class (up to 750cc I guess). Sue was the receptionist at Bennett Honda (NSW distributors) and I was a trainee car salesman (gopher) there.

Hi 2Bob I first went to Amaroo as a spectator at a motorcycle meeting in 1967,then ended up competing at the motocross bike circuit in a car,the hillclimb,the main circuit and the oiled dirt circuit on the higher ground overlooking the rest.The photo of your Honda intrigues me ,it is going pretty sharply and steeply uphill on what looks like bitumen,lots of jungle behind,I could only surmise must be the first left hander on the hillclimb.Perhaps in 1965 there was another course in use,either that or it's part of the motorbike dirt circuit to the left of "stop" corner .

I am sure it is on dirt. From my bad memory the circuit had a long down hill straight followed by a tight left hander then coming back uphill to (possibly) an S bend followed by a medium left thander leading back onto the down hill straight. I think the photo is coming out of the bottom corner. There are other photos here: http://forums.autosp...w...0846&st=160 maybe taken a bit earlier before the grass grew?

Pictures of Noel Riley's Honda S800 taken in the pits at Amaroo Park, Sydney in about 67 or 68. Pic 4 shows the original Japanese Carburettors. These were later replaced by a pair of Webers.
Regards
Alan.

There was a chap here in Victoria that raced Honda 600 and 800,s his name was Erroll Robbins. I think he had a team of these cars running at most Victorian tracks,I know I saw him at Phillip Island and at Sandown during the late sixtys and early seventy,s. Cheers Simmo.

Garry Chapman drove a factory S800 roadster in SA at Mallala for Adelaide's Dalton Honda dealership.
Ian Alexander had a Coupe I think.
Plus Bruce Porter and the famous Mike Drewer (Clipsal PR Manager) drove S800s at Collingrove hillclimb.
I think that Ian Alexander ultimately built a clubman style car with Honda bits and put a Rotary Mazda in the coupe ????
I may have photos.
Will look and post if I do.
Smeetsie

Garry Chapman drove a factory S800 roadster in SA at Mallala for Adelaide's Dalton Honda dealership.Ian Alexander had a Coupe I think.Plus Bruce Porter and the famous Mike Drewer (Clipsal PR Manager) drove S800s at Collingrove hillclimb.I think that Ian Alexander ultimately built a clubman style car with Honda bits and put a Rotary Mazda in the coupe ????I may have photos.Will look and post if I do.Smeetsie

Actually I reckon Drewers was a S600. When he was a budding ABC reporter. White one from memory.

Thanks Alan for a real treasure trove of fantastic photos of Noel's car. The date would be quite early in the car's life. I may be able to estimate the date from the images and the number 2.
Stephen

Pictures of Noel Riley's Honda S800 taken in the pits at Amaroo Park, Sydney in about 67 or 68. Pic 4 shows the original Japanese Carburettors. These were later replaced by a pair of Webers.
Regards
Alan.
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